Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles, 2002
Set in the favelas of Brazil, this sharply edited modern masterpiece is based on a true story of warring inner-city child gangs. The standout performances in this film are perhaps more remarkable considering that all but one of the actors had no previous acting experience. This gritty atmospheric film is a fantastic example of South American at it's best.

Billy Wilder, 1950
An undeniable classic, Sunset Boulevard is often cited as one of the most important films in American cinema. Gloria Swanson gives one of the greatest performances of all time in a film that exposes the narcissistic hellhole that is Hollywood.

No film this week

Michael Haneke, 1997
This is a thriller that takes absolute pleasure in pushing the limits of the genre. We watch as Peter and Paul, two boys that seem to be so very nice, terrorise an innocent family with their special brand of psychological torture. Despite the minimal use of blood, this film is an intensely harrowing experience that showcases the effectiveness of a director with absolute control over his audience.

You, 2008
Filmsoc's short film competition for semester 1! Registration in Week 4.

Shinobu Yaguchi, 2004
Rarely do feel-good films succeed as much as this Japanese comedy. The actors and actresses all learnt to play instruments from scratch for this film about a group of school-girls that discover Jazz while attempting to get out of attending math class.

Orson Welles, 1974
The last film by the director Orson Welles, F for Fake is a film that defies description. Focusing on the stories behind forgeries, as well as issues of reality and authenticity, this fast paced film features perhaps the best editing work in film history, taking a year to put together.

Satoshi Kon, 2001
Touching film that interweaves love and cinema in the turbulent life of a famous actress. Exquisitely charming, original and brilliantly animated, an experience to be cherished.

François Truffaut, 1959
The defining film of the French New Wave, this semi-autobiographical film features a young adolescent living in Paris. Reflecting events in Truffaut's lives and those of his friends, this character study is both an expose of the juvenile detention system at the time as well as the birth of perhaps the most important character in French film history.

Three curvaceous go-go dancers in a sports car go on a desert crime spree, led by Varla, a busty woman dressed entirely in black, Rosie who has an extremely overwrought accent and reluctant bimbo Billie. Often described as the most entertaining film of all time, this is exploitation film at its finest.

P. T. Anderson, 1997
This long, complicated, dark drama focuses on the life of Dirk Diggler, a young porn star who enters the adult film industry in the late 1970s. Critically acclaimed, this film has a ridiculously all-star cast and a deeply involving plot that is offset by the absurdity and humour that is inherent in the setting. A strangely moving film.

Lars von Trier, 1998
This film follows a group of adults who “spaz”, or act mentally retarded in public in order to challenge society at large through provocation. Preceding Dance in the Dark in Lars Von Trier's Golden Heart trilogy.